·Two start-ups will have the opportunity to access a development programme with facilitated access to equity crowdfunding

Rome-Milan, June 21st, 2016  Intermonte, Consilia, Ascomfidi and Enel have launched the Call for Disruption in Energy, a call for proposals to promote innovative energy and green economy projects. The goal is to select two projects submitted by innovative start-ups, which will receive support in structuring an equity crowdfunding campaign and accelerated growth process to sustain their business.

Start-ups have until September 30th, 2016 to submit applications to the website http://equitystartup.it/section/competition with a description of the projects they intend to develop. The top two applications will be selected by a jury of independent experts appointed by the partners in the initiative. The two winning companies will be helped in their growth through a business mentoring programme provided by Enel, investor relations and content providing services offered by Intermonte through Websim, and legal and management advisory services offered by Consilia. They will also benefit from a reduction in the placement fees charged by Intermonte Sim and Ascomfidi and much more favourable conditions than those prevailing on the market, with no setup fees or guaranteed minimums.

The equity crowdfunding platform will remain available to the companies even after the call to allow them to raise the capital they need to grow.

"Thanks to recent legislative changes and the updating of Consob rules we now have the conditions for an acceleration of the growth of equity crowdfunding in Italy, notes Fabrizio Barini, head of business development at Intermonte SIM. Compared with the 6 million euros raised so far, fundraising could increase tenfold, approaching the levels already achieved today in other European countries. It is therefore the right time to launch initiatives that promote awareness of this type of financing instrument, especially for companies in the green economy, which in Italy are among the few not to have suffered in the economic crisis.

"We are very pleased to join forces with partners such as Intermonte, Consilia and Ascomfidi to provide the decisive impetus to the growth, design and development of innovative ideas in the field of energy and the green economy, says Ernesto Ciorra, head of Innovation and Sustainability at Enel. "With this agreement, we can also eliminate one of the main obstacles for start-ups associated with the costs and notary formalities involved with both changes in companies articles of association and special shareholder resolutions needed to increase share capital, which Enel will now bear. We are always looking for entrepreneurs committed to bringing significant changes to the technological development of our industry, while at the same time improving the quality of people's lives and our society.

This is the first initiative that combines crowdfunding and energy and I believe it is an excellent opportunity, especially for retail investors, said Alessandro M. Lerro, President of the Italian Equity Crowdfunding Association. In the energy sector, the goal may not be traditional capital gains, the millionaire gains that start-ups usually seek, but rather the creation of a solid business with large profit margins, in an industry that is more stable than many others. In addition, Italy has always been an example of excellence in the energy sector, and so the aim of this call for proposals is to make that emerge and accelerate its growth.

We are enthusiastic participants in this initiative as it is being developed in two areas that we feel very strongly about and in which we have been involved for some years now, said Carlo Nebiolo, President of AscomFidi Nord-Ovest. This means supporting start-ups and investment in the generation of electricity from renewable resources. Equitystartup is the only platform operating on the Italian market to be operated by an entity subject to the supervision of the Bank of Italy and Consob. It integrates the typical business of equity crowdfunding platforms with a broad range of financial, legal and administrative services support of enterprise.

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